The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday (March 17) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for the war crime of "illegal deportation" of Ukrainian children. The ICC, which sits in The Hague, issued a second against Maria Lvova-Belova, its children's rights commissioner, on similar grounds.
The Russian President “is allegedly responsible for the war crime of illegal deportation of population and illegal transfer of population from the occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation (…). The crimes were allegedly committed in occupied Ukrainian territory at least from February 24, 2022,” the ICC said in a statement, adding that there are “reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Putin is personally responsible for the aforementioned crimes.”
Neither Russia nor Ukraine are members of the ICC, but Kyiv has recognized the court's jurisdiction and is cooperating with its prosecutor. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed a "historic decision, which marks the beginning of historic responsibility".
A "justified" mandate for Biden
United States President Joe Biden called the term "justified". Speaking to reporters at the White House, he recalled that the institution was not recognized by the United States, but nevertheless considered that his decision sent "a very strong signal".
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, hailed him "an important decision" and the United Kingdom welcomed "this step taken by the independent ICC to compel those at the top of the Russian regime, including including Vladimir Putin, to be held accountable".
The decision "will be landmark", said the French foreign ministry on Twitter, adding that "no one responsible for crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine, whatever their status, must escape justice".
For its part, the Kremlin ruled that the decision had no legal value. “Russia, like a number of states, does not recognize the jurisdiction of this court. Therefore, from the point of view of law, the decisions of this court are null and void,” said Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Russian President.
" Spoils of war "
More than 16,000 Ukrainian children have been deported to Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to kyiv, and many have been placed in institutions and foster homes. In a video posted online, Piotr Hofmanski, President of the ICC, speaks of an "important moment in the judicial process".
The warrants, issued following a request by ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, relate to "alleged war crimes of the deportation of children from occupied Ukrainian territories to the Russian Federation" since the start of the invasion , said Mr. Hofmanski, adding that their application depends "on international cooperation".
During a meeting with Mr. Putin in mid-February, Maria Lvova-Belova said that she herself adopted a 15-year-old child from Mariupol. "Now I know what it means to be a mother of a child from Donbass - it's hard work but we love each other, for sure," she told him. We evacuated children's homes to safe areas, organized rehabilitation and prosthetics for them, and provided them with targeted humanitarian assistance. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has compared the arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin to toilet paper.
Be that as it may, the issuance of an arrest warrant against a sitting head of state, member of the UN Security Council, is unprecedented for the ICC. Mr. Khan has been investigating for more than a year into possible war crimes or crimes against humanity committed during the Russian offensive. He said earlier this month after a visit to Ukraine that the alleged child abductions were "the subject of a priority investigation". "Children cannot be treated as spoils of war," he said.
